A Penny For The Young Gal
by Ember Nickel
Summary: A poetic account of certain adventures in the life of one Dominique Weasley. For the Twelve Months of NextGen challenge on the Next-Gen Fanatics forum. Theme: Patriotism.


"Remember, remember, the fifth of November-"  
"-Louis, you whimpering snot!"  
"I know of no reason why gunpowder treason-"  
"I said, shut up! If not-"  
"The phoenix Fawkes, t'was his desire  
To save the day and leave in fire-"  
"I'm trying to study." "Yes, I know!  
I'll help you review, and get an O!  
By God's providence Dumbledore  
Fled the school to return once more-  
Holla boys, holla girls, elves of all sorts!  
Holloa boys, holloa girls, God save Hogwarts!  
And what should we do next but-" "LOUIS!"

The weather was gloomy, the annals were doomy.  
Her studies were not going well.  
History of Magic Dominique found tragic.  
As far as she could tell  
People just fulfilled Foreseen fate  
And Britain wasn't all that great.  
If only she could have the chance  
To study overseas in France!  
No matter how she'd try to revise  
She never felt quite close to wise.  
And Louis, the swot, with each yelp  
Could really not be said to help.  
Why, some days she wanted to burn him.

And she found her sister as much of a blister  
If not even more. On one hand  
Victoire _was_ real quiet. But she'd hardly diet-  
She was attractive and  
Wasn't correspondingly humble  
Which caused young Dominique to grumble.  
Again, she found herself intent  
To visit the broader continent.  
She wasn't very good at Charms,  
Couldn't duel well, or take up arms  
And wasn't all that good at Potions.  
(She'd rather sail across the oceans)  
And wound up just burning her cauldron.

Why work hard and study when there were some studly  
Young students to flirt with or tease?  
Chatting with young Goyle was better than toil,  
She thought, and took her ease.  
Now Dominique had little cunning  
Though she was for cutting and running.  
Some said that it was a mistake  
She hadn't been sorted a Snake.  
But, not being cunning enough  
She went instead to Hufflepuff  
And spent all her schooldays a Badger.

So after five summers of horrible bummers  
Where she sat around and would whine,  
She finally reckoned that she'd leave the second  
She could, which took some spine.  
Victoire would shrug, Louis would scoff  
But she vowed she was taking off.  
That wasn't counting Mum and Dad  
Who didn't realize that she had  
A plan where she'd do more than shirk.  
Although France offered little work  
That didn't leave her out of luck.  
She just would talk to Uncle Chuck  
And no one else need give a...hoot.

Now dragon breath's torrid. The weather is torrid  
If you're used to the ocean wave.  
There's some risk of dying amid all the flying  
You have to be quite brave.  
But Dominique trained on her broom  
Till she really knew how to zoom.  
She gave her all and did quite well,  
Never complained about the smell,  
Till Charlie knew it was unfair  
To keep his niece out of the air.  
She was quite eager, never cringed  
And luckily was never singed  
Though dragons are quite fond of burning.

The work was exhausting. There was little frosting  
Or, really, any kind of cake.  
For many a student, it would be imprudent,  
But it was no mistake.  
Though lugging dragon food could drain  
She was too tired to complain.  
She liked the feel of doing work.  
People were less shrill and berserk.  
Since she had just two months to spend  
Abroad, she vowed it wouldn't end  
Before she'd done her very best.  
And after setting up this test  
She did all that she'd set her mind to.

There was more she'd written once back in Great Britain,  
Lots of coursework for the NEWT years-  
But not too demanding since she had stayed standing.  
Nearby dragons. No fears  
Plagued her once she'd faced down an ember  
From flaming mouths, watched beasts dismember  
The animals that they'd devour.  
Even her mood was much less sour.  
Two years later, who needed peace?  
Our traveller was off to Greece  
To work with griffins and chimaeras.


End file.
